“Step by step, by working together, we can improve anaestethic and obstretic care, and we will save lives.” This was the opening message delivered by Dr Berith Tingåker at the Muhimbili Hospital on Monday the 9 of November when a new course in Obstretic Anaesthesia started in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Around 20 doctors and nurses in obstretic and anaesthetic care has arrived from Stockholm, Sweden, to meet with 53 collegues attending the course at Muhiombili Hospital. The knowledge they share is vital in a country where maternal and infant mortality is high, even thougt many lives could be saved with simple mesures.
-When you become specialists, don´t forget to share your knowledge with the younger ones. Help them to grow. That is your mission, said Dr Berith Tingåker, BB Stockholm, Danderyds sjukhus, in her opening message.
One of the attendants was doctor Emmanuel Mwalumulu, who was eager to learn more from the lessons and different scenarios.
– I hope to get more confident on the ABC in saving lives through intensive care, and to improve my knowledge in order to help mothers and infants, said Mwalumulu.
A Memorandum of understanding is about to be finalised for the new project Life support for Mothers and Babies in Dar, sponsored by the Kavli Fund, and Berith Tingåker, member of the Life Support Foundation Board, shook hands with Meshack Shimwela, Director of the Amana Hospital as the agreement was signed by him on Wednesday.
– We see patients die every day. This Project is very important to us, said Omar Issa, also doctor at the Amana Hospital, who as part of the MKAIC exchange, has spent time at Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset in Stockholm, to learn more in his profession.
An other member of the Life Support Foundation board, Professor Claes Frostell, Karolinska Institutet, also attended the meeting:
– We are ready to take a new step, and it will feel great to be a part of this collaboration, he said.
